Being a millennial is tough when it comes to fashion. You know you’re not technically old, but you know you’re not a baby anymore either —and you’re utterly convinced that Gen Z are just waiting to roast you on TikTok if you wear the wrong kind of slogan tee or part your hair in a way that hasn’t been officially signed off by Hailey Bieber. The problem is, if you’re Taylor Swift, you’re not just paranoid: they are watching, waiting, ready to rip your “cheugy fit” to shreds.
Millennials are categorized as anyone born between 1981 and 1996 meaning that Swift, who was famously born in 1989 and turns 35 next month, is Peak Millennial. For any generation, the clothes that were fashionable in our teens and early twenties will be what we always regard as extremely cool. And for millennials, who came of age in the early to mid-aughts, that’s skinny jeans. Kate Moss first popularized them around 2006, and Kate Moss was everything.
We soon all realized that you didn’t actually have to be Kate Moss skinny to wear skinny jeans and that, with the right styling, waistline, denim wash and stretch, they could look good on everyone. For at least 15 years, they were as ubiquitous at parties and concerts as they were at school and the mall.
Swift, of course, with her willowy figure, looked especially good in them and, until a few years ago, she wore them all the time: tucked into expensive leather boots while traveling, styled up with chic velvet flats for nights out, buried under a big coat for romantic strolls with a famous boyfriend and often teamed with every Peak Millennial’s other timeless style go-to, a bold red lip.
Until, that is, Gen Z cruelly, callously canceled skinny jeans, making it very clear on social media from 2020 onwards that only middle-aged moms would be seen dead in the things, probably with Ugg Boots. Instead, we were being told that waistlines were getting lower and legs were getting looser — it’s a ‘90s hellscape!
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From the traumatic memory of dragging voluminous hemlines through puddles, the denim getting heavier with every soggy step, to the risk of the horrific body-shaming term “muffin top” coming back into regular use, your average self-respecting millennial simply can’t, well, stomach the idea.
So, what is the world’s biggest pop star, beloved by every generation from Alpha to Boomer but with a stronghold over many Gen Zs and millennials, to do? Well, Swifites have spotted that she has pretty much stopped wearing jeans altogether. During her recent social whirlwind between Eras commitments, Swift basically wore everything but jeans: velvet co-ords, plaid miniskirts and yes, denim, but in the form of shorts and skirts. Sure, she might just want to show off her long, Eras-strong legs — who wouldn’t? — but fans believe she’s grappling with the same denim dilemma as every other woman around her age: what the hell jeans are we actually supposed to wear?
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Now, there is one exception: in the video she recently shared backstage at her Miami concert, she was wearing wide-leg jeans and she chose to post it on TikTok, as if to show that she was down with Gen Z after all. But what’s the top comment, with over 233,000 likes? “She is so millennial” and a sobbing face.
@taylorswift Back in the office…
#MiamiTSTheErasTour
Brutal. But how is it that when us millennials were younger, we all looked up to Gen X (hello, Kate Moss!), and yet Gen Z think millennials are so uncool? It’s not fair — we want to stay relevant for longer!
Still, we have good news: according to actual fashion experts — not just TikTok — we are now in an era of wearing whatever denim we want. “All Denim Rules Are Off” writes British fashion journalist Polly Vernon on Substack. “You can wear whatever you want… genuinely, all cuts and all shapes and all hues of jeans are acceptable these days. Wide leg and high waist and low waist and that weird petrol dirty wash from the ‘00s, and double denim and triple denim and bootcut and patchwork. 501s (eternally) and (current hot trend) the horseshoe (which one of my subscribers called ‘weird’, but as I always say, ‘weird — only ever a precursor to cool’) and HELL YEAH TO THE SKINNY!”
Phew. With this in mind, if we were Swift, who looks great in everything but clearly harbored a special love for sprayed-on denim, we would be reaching once again for our favorite skinny jeans. You just know she still has at least five pairs in the back of her closet, along with all those boots, scarves (red and otherwise) and coats they looked so good with. Come on Taylor, winter is coming — give your self-consciously millennial Swifties some help here!
